Emma, 4; Logan, 19 mos; Jami, 35

Emma at 4 is
curious--
One entire morning car ride comprised of Emma asking me 1.2 billion questions about how viruses are formed, how they are spread, what they look like, etc. That child NEVER stops asking questions. Once I asked her to just stop for a bit, and she cried, "But I WANT to know, Mama!" And she truly does. The only two real problems with this are 1. it is constant and 2. I don't know the answers to half her questions, and she doesn't believe me when I tell her I don't know. I guess it is good that she has such confidence in me, but I really don't know what a virus looks like and if it has a mouth. Maybe it does?

whiny--
AAAAAAAAAAh! This morning Emma crawled in bed with me for a morning cuddle. At first it was kind of nice, warm, and cozy. AND then, the whining started. She didn't have enough pillow. She wanted my arm just right above her head. She needed more covers for her feet. My leg needed to be on top of her feet, but not like that. It seems I cannot do anything right. I am trying to be patient with this. I know it is just a stage, but man, sometimes. . . I just want to scream (and sometimes I do :-)). We have a deal, though. If she will try not to whine, I'll try not to get frustrated and yell. It works 75% of the time.

helpful--
Emma loves to help. She throws things away for me, wipes down the kitchen table, does the dishes, puts her clean clothes away, and puts her dirty clothes in the dirty clothes bin. She really is eager to please. Every morning she brushes her teeth and dresses herself. And she is so proud of herself. She'll run into the kitchen when she's ready and present herself to me. It is such an adorable sight. Hair and collar askew, face beaming, she announces, "I'm ready!"

artistic--
That child loves to draw. Right now, she can draw a cat that looks like a cat, a spiny sea creature of some sort, her family with faces, arms, legs, hair, and sometimes hands and feet, a spider, a lady bug, a house, flowers, and rainbows. She adores painting and playing with play doh, and she will draw and do "school work" for hours.

spongy--
She absorbs everything and her memory is 500x better than mine. She knows when everyone's birthday in her class is! And she knows this from the cupcake bulletin board in her classroom. She is obsessed with the calendar, and we must mark off the days just like they do in her classroom. When we are approaching the last day of the month, she excited prepares for it, and the second she wakes up on the first day of the next month, she is so excited.

Logan at 19 mos is
delightful--
Oh my goodness, this child is CUTE! His eyes are big and blue, he has eye lashes that go on forever, he has two adorable teeth on the bottom of his mouth and four on the top, and his feet are FAT and scrumptious. He walks on his tippy-toes, and although, we might have to work on changing that later, now it gives him a springy gait that brings a smile to my face. He runs everywhere, especially everywhere Emma does. He is quiet, but energetic and will play for a long time by himself. He loves to throw a ball, put together and take apart things, and color on the upholstery.

flirty and cuddly--
He will put his arms out and go to anyone. He truly has not met a person he does not love, and if you are willing to cuddle with him, he is delighted to cuddle with you. He knows how to get his way by being adorable. He just looks up at you with his big blue eyes and grins. He will go from me to Brad, from Brad to me, flirting with us, trying to get his way. When you are holding him, he clings to you, scratches your neck, and buries his head occasionally in your chest.

bruised--
He has a black eye, a bump on his nose, and his legs no longer are the pristine, white chubby legs of an infant. He is definitely a toddler, on the run, bumping into things, falling down, and fearless. When he hurts himself, he cries for maybe 10 seconds and then he is ready to go again. He moves with reckless abandon, sliding down the slide head first, and jumping off of and on the couch. The only thing he is tentative about is walking in our master bath. There was water on the floor one day and he took quite a tumble and so now he will stand on the carpet before the linoleum and survey the floor before he slowly steps onto it.

SLEEPING, mostly--
He is sleeping mostly through the night, which for Logan who was waking up every hour is quite an accomplishment. He now sleeps until at least 3, and if he wakes up at 3, he usually puts himself back to sleep in about 15 minutes and sleeps until 5. We are working on getting him to sleep until at least 6, but he has come a long way from where he was. I have learned some things about him--1. If he cries during the night, it is usually because he is mad to be awake, not because he is sick. 2. If you tell him to stop crying and go to sleep, he usually will before 5, after 5, he's up :-). Getting him to sleep has been a parenting adventure.

Talking, some--
Logan is taking his time talking. He usually gets his way without talking (see paragraph about flirting), so his parents are having to make him ask for things rather than just batting his eye lashes to get his way. He can now say "please," "thank you," "juice," "bottle," "apple," "moo," "peek a boo," "more," "mama," "dada," "drink," "that," "this," "no," "bye," "hello," "Mimi," "eieio," "uh oh," "night night," and "weeee." He love the song "Old MacDonald's Farm," and he loves to sing and clap.

Jami at 35 is
tired-- That is obvious. But I am feeling a little bit bored. My day is filled to the brim, but it is actually filled with a lot of mindless activity. I do a lot of things, but I am not thinking much. Before kids, I was in graduate school classes, reading education philosophy books, watching movies, and talking to my brilliant husband. I was also creating curriculum and figuring out this teaching thing. Teaching is, of course, every evolving, but I have tons of resources to use now, and I know kind of what I am doing. It is not as challenging as it once was. The newness of raising children has worn off, and we are in a bit of a routine. And although, it is always challenging, it is a different challenge then I am used to. I need a hobby :-)

chubbier than I would like--this is self-explanatory, but for some reason I can't get a hold of it. After Emma, I lost weight relatively quickly, but the Logan weight is trickling off (mostly because I am still eating like I am pregnant).

happy--Even though, I am a bit bored and fat, I am happy. I truly do love my life more than I ever have. Being a parent gives me more fulfillment than I ever expected or could have ever imagined. Every day has moments of intense joy, whether I am listening to Emma tell a story or rocking Logan to sleep. Life is good.

I am not proofreading these. I don't really care :-) Don't judge, just enjoy (I think this may be the motto of my life :-)